


What Came Before

by halfpastmonsoon



Category: Battle Royale - Takami Koushun
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Missing Scene, missing chapter, style imitation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-17
Updated: 2018-04-17
Packaged: 2019-04-24 09:36:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14352789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halfpastmonsoon/pseuds/halfpastmonsoon
Summary: How did Tadakatsu and Yuichiro find each other in the program?





	What Came Before

**Author's Note:**

> So I really wanted to write something from Tadakatsu's perspective since it was really missing in the book. This is supposed to be a gap-filling chapter so I imitated Takami's style

Tadakatsu Hatagami (Male Student No. 18) gripped his gun tightly as he hid behind a tree. His acne-ridden face looked tired. He didn’t want to go to sleep, fearing somebody might attack him when he’s unconscious. It was better to suffer from sleep deprivation for a while than go to sleep and wake up on the other side. Plus, it’s not like he couldn’t take it. He was strong.

And he was also incredibly tense.

It seemed safer to stay in one place during the day and move around at night, but he couldn’t help being scared anyway. This game was much more stressful than his baseball games.

Ah, right. Baseball. He found himself missing it, perhaps even more than he expected to. He’d pay serious money to be playing with his team right now, rather than be stuck here, on an isolated island, at night, with no help whatsoever, in a shitty murder game.

Wonder if they will be all right without me.

He shook off the thought. He’s not going to die. He’s got to survive.

“Tadakatsu!” he heard a cheeful voice exclaim behind him. His whole body tensed up as he turned around, pointing his gun at the unwanted guest.  
The muzzle of his Smith & Wesson M19 .357 Magnum should have theoretically been on the chest level of the other person, but instead, it was pointing at their throat. Shortie. Tadakatsu froze with his finger on the trigger, as he heard a whisper.

“Whoa..” the figure held up their hands defensively, and he noticed the right one is holding an aluminium bat. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”  
Tadakatsu lowered his gun and raised an eyebrow. “…Yuichiro?” He heard a sigh of relief from the figure, and noticed a small nod.

Indeed, it was Yuichiro Takiguchi (Male Student No. 13). Tadakatsu didn’t know that Yuichiro’d been watching him for a while, and trying to get himself to speak to him. If it was anybody else, he’d probably run away without even hesitating, but it was Tadakatsu. If you could call it that, they were friends.  
“I’m so glad it’s you, Tadakatsu.” Yuichiro’s voice was quiet, and he sounded genuinely happy, but Tadakatsu could hear traces of fear in his tone. “I mean, I know I can trust you, and there’s one more thing, I mean, if you want to help me with it.” That’s when Yuichiro lowered his hands, and also when Tadakatsu’s body relaxed. He stood up straight and looked straight at Yuichiro, who made a few more steps in his direction.

“What is it?”

Yuichiro was already standing right next to him by then. He looked at the bat in his hand. “I was wondering…if you could help me with this.” He held the bat up again. “I know you’re used to holding them and I think I might accidentally be doing something wrong. Could you show me how to hold it properly? And how to swing properly?” Yuichiro chuckled. “I mean, I probably won’t need that, but in case something happens to you…if we’re separated….I want to be able to protect us both.” He smiled sadly. “And don’t worry, I won’t use it against you. And I know you won’t do it, either.”

Tadakatsu was looking at the bat suspiciously, but because of the last comment, he started feeling kind of guilty about it. He hesitated a bit, put his gun in his pocket, and took the bat from Yuichiro, still gazing at it. A nice, familiar feeling. But then, suddenly he felt something else.  
I could kill him with this. Just one swing, he wouldn’t even notice or feel anything. One swing in the right spot, and he’d be dead. He trusts me. He wouldn’t expect anything like that from me.

Tadakatsu felt his hands sweating. They were also a bit itchy. I could-  
He took his eyes off the bat, and looked at Yuichiro instead, and in that instant, the feeling went away. Yuichiro was smiling up at him brightly and innocently, waiting patiently. He wasn’t looking Tadakatsu in the eyes, but instead his gaze was hanging a bit to his right. Of course. Yuichiro’s not good at eye contact. Tadakatsu felt horrible.

He’s right. I couldn’t. I could never do something like that to him. Why did I even think about that? I must be losing it…

He gripped the bat tightly, and swung it around, giving Yuichiro tips. All tips he could come up with. Yuichiro just looked at him, his movements, and listened to his explanations, making mental notes. What a strange kid.

Soon, the lesson was over. Yuichiro thanked him, still smiling, and held onto his bat with pride. Tadakatsu glanced at him, a weird heavy feeling in his chest.

They decided to stay there. Tadakatsu sat down, and Yuichiro kneeled down next to him. They put their bags together and stayed like that in total silence for a long while.

“Hey, Tadakatsu?” He heard a shy whisper and made a noise that was supposed to sound like “?” in response.

“You know, I feel kind of bad. For a moment, I really thought you might hit me with the bat.” Yuichiro changed his position, he was now hugging his knees against his chest, his chin resting against them, so his words were a bit muffled. “I’m glad I decided to trust you in the end.” Tadakatsu noticed a smile on Yuichiro’s face again. The feeling of guilt from before hit him again. Yuichiro…

Instead of replying he just shrugged. Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to trust me. You can’t know. Maybe I will want to kill you later. You can never know! Why are you able to trust me so easily? I don’t even deserve that.

“Hey, Katsu?” He almost smiled upon hearing his name shortened, but resisted the urge.

“Yeah?”

“I’m glad I found you. I kind of missed you.”

Huh?

“You found new people when we started middle school. And I can understand that. It’s easier to be friends with someone you have nothing in common with when you’re kids, huh?” He chuckled. Now his left cheek was resting against his knees. “We’re really different. You’re a star! And I’m just an embarrassing geek, no?” He looked up at Tadakatsu for a moment, before looking away again.

“No, you aren’t.” Tadakatsu said that without even thinking. “I just had no time to hang out with you because of club stuff.”

Well, that was certainly true. It’s not like he had much time for things that weren’t baseball.

He glanced over at Yuichiro again. His eyes were sparkling. Exactly like in his animes or whatever they were. Tadakatsu never quite got into it himself. Whatever.

“Really?” Yuichiro’s voice was squeaky. “Well, isn’t it kind of funny how we got to hang out after so much time in such a place? That makes being here a bit less scary.”

Tadakatsu had to resist the urge to smile again. He rubbed his eyes instead.

“Hey, are you sleepy? Maybe you should rest?” Tadakatsu shook his head.

“Nah, I’m fine. So, what are we gonna do anyway?”

Yuichiro thought for a moment, before shyly answering “Well, I was thinking…”  
He gulped and crossed his legs. Man, you fidget too much, can’t you sit still?  
“I don’t really have any ideas, but I wish there was somebody else with us. Somebody we can trust. The more the better. Then we could all come up with something together, and escape. I just don’t know who…and I’m not sure if we’ll manage to find anyone else. But that’s all I have.”  
Tadakatsu shrugged. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it, but I’m not sure if we can trust anyone. I’d be careful if I were you. Let’s just stick together for now.”

Yuichiro nodded at him.

Tadakatsu thought for a moment. Who could I possibly trust? Nobody. Probably not even people I know a bit better than most. Don’t trust anyone in this damned game. Who knows what they can do? If even I had a moment…  
He shuddered and looked at Yuichiro. That’s right, I can trust him. If he wanted to kill me, he would have sneaked up and swung at me instead of calling out like that. Plus, I know him well enough. He’s too good. Too kind. Too gentle. He could never hurt anyone. It might become a problem if, like he said, we run into someone dangerous and get separated. He would try to talk it out. And get killed on the spot.

He shuddered again.

He can’t let that happen.

Who knew it’d come to this?

He felt a sudden sharp pain in his bladder. Oh, right. He’s been holding it in for so long. Like…ever since the game started, probably. Boy, this hurts like a bitch. He groaned.

“You okay?” Yuichiro sounded worried.

Tadakatsu shook his head, holding his stomach. Man, this is going to kill me. And I can’t just piss myself right here, what the hell.

“You need to pee, don’t you? It’s okay, you can go.”

Tadakatsu looked up at him. This was…embarrassing. Ugh. He didn’t want to leave Yuichiro by himself, but for some reason, he was too embarrassed to piss where he could see. Pathetic, huh? Better just make it quick, and stay close enough to hear in case something happens.

He nodded and tried to stand up. Eventually, he succeeded.

“Don’t worry about me, I have my bat!” He heard right as he turned away. He glanced at Yuichiro over his shoulder. He was holding the bat up with his right hand and giving him a thumbs up with his left. Tadakatsu turned away again, sighing. Shortly after, he found the right spot not that far away and sprinted off towards it, lightly shaking his head in disbelief the entire time.


End file.
